Time Defined as Commodity and Property

Can the immaterial really be stolen?

Many people have come to believe that time is a commodity that can be stolen like a car or some other substantial object. | Source

Time as Property is a Misconception

In a society where we
claim proprietary rights, just about anything can become mislabeled
as property. How for instance can we lay claim to the warmth of the
sun as property of some and not of most. Although we can argue in favor of proprietary rights for something like a fish we caught, or
that gold nugget we found, there are things that no one can claim as
property, such as gravity and time. Yet, many have come to accept
some preposterous claims.

How often have we all
heard the boss or some other authority say “My time” and “your
time” as it it was something physical that can be divided and parceled out or exchanged like vegetables, metals, cloth, houses,
cars or some other commodity? Most of us have heard it more than
once. This idea that time is something that can be bought, sold and
traded is something of a huge misunderstanding. In fact, time has
become regarded like a commodity; at least by some people. Time is
one of those things that is not a surplus value or even a use value
or a value as regarded in classic economic definitions and terms. We
don't find time lying about waiting to be discovered, converted and
used like objects or raw resources found in nature. In fact, if we
are to define time, we have to turn to and consider the findings of
Albert Einstein who defined time as a variable dimension, just as
other dimensions are variable under General Relativity, defined only
by particular frames of reference. By now Einstein's findings have
been proven by experiment which is the final measure in science.
Anyone can prove these things given rigorous controls and practice.
Adjusting GPS or relativistic effects is now routine.

Coupled
with the misconception of time as commodity is the idea that time can
be privately owned. Yet for all our seeming ability to claim time as
property, it is not controlled to the least extent by everyday
actions. We cannot stop, start or manipulate time in any way. We are
in it for the ride. Each one of us, floats as it were through time,
within the eternal moment, within the context of historical
development. During this period, we attempt to change our
circumstances, but not time itself. Time can be said to be
primordial, a fundamental condition that can be also viewed as change
itself. For without change, the cosmos is static and what we call
time is the medium of change. At the quantum level the cosmos is
discreet and it follows that time or change is also discreet.

We
have been led down the garden path to believe that time is property
that can be owned. This surfaces in the concept of production,
specifically, surplus production that is the locus of profit making.
It takes time to turn raw resources into something of use value and
use value arises only because of added labor value. Labor value is
interwoven with time. It always requires some time to convert
something that is available to something that we find more useful.
Not many people live in trees such as other primates, but we will
harvest trees, make lumber and plywood and turn this into a house
where we do live. This is the basis that allowed the idea that time
itself is a commodity that can be bought and sold, when it was
actually labor effort and surplus value that is the real commodity.
What we have is another form of alienation of labor, not only from
production, nature and each other, but time as well.

How
often do we see the laborer or worker disgruntled and dissatisfied
with spending time at a job that is neither rewarding nor fulfilling
and increasingly, not financially gainful. The job becomes time that
is under suffering and is torturous. The nature of class division
with its ownership of the means of production and fictitious value as
the laborers reward only drives the point further home. The self
appointed owners of the means of production then divide time into
productive and non-productive time and seek to expand the former at
the expense of the latter. Non-productive time for profit makers are
things like rest or sleep, transit to and from the factory, field or
office, eating, vacations and the like. Productive time on the other
hand is that where commodities for profit are being created. As in
any other mode of production, the productive time that the
owner-bosses claim as their property like the means of production is
encouraged in order to maximize profit. The non-productive time is
discouraged. Thus events like lengthening the work day and
eliminating breaks is desirable under capitalism to tip the scale in favor of productive time, which is claimed as the property of the
capitalists. As the struggles of the 1920s and 30's ended up
establishing the eight hour day in America, the bosses had to go
off-shore in order to get 12 to 16 hour work days in China and India,
where there are few labor laws and other restrictions such as health,
safety environmental limitations. In addition, there is the “bonus”
of much lower wages. Americans are left to fend without work, while
the Chinese and Indians are overworked and the bosses are
ostentatious in the display of their wealth. The only two economies
that are growing are where the production has increased. For those
that still work in America, we still hear the old ideas.

Thus
we hear things like “Not on my time” from the boss or straw boss
where you have no claim to time when under the directive of the
capitalist. You must do with time, what you are told to or risk the
consequences of violating the sanctity of productive time under the
mode of profit making. We even here that time is money, linking time
with the money making schemes of capitalism which includes the
creation of fictitious value, a way of attempting to cheat time by
creating value out of thin air. In reality, it is the laborer that
is being cheated all the way. Their labor value is regarded as
variable capital. Their time is not considered their own to do with
as they see fit. They are encouraged from cradle to grave to respect
all the concepts designed to exploit them.

Today
we even hear of the expression “time theft” as if time were like
a diamond or car that can be surreptitiously stolen and ferreted away
to be enjoyed in secret. Time theft emerges when the laborer seeks
to extend non-productive time at the cost of productive time by
lengthening breaks or coming in late to or leaving early from the
work shift time. Time theft occurs when the worker claims hours
worked that were not worked. This is what could be called generating
fictitious time. Time theft occurs when the laborer makes an error
at the cost of the company. The penalty for time theft is often
dismissal and possibly the garnishing of wages. Little or nothing is
said when the capitalist “steals time” from the laborer by the
non payment of wages, whether it is the result of bankruptcy or by
neglect or deliberation for one “deduction” or another. Today,
according to many economic analysts, many state and city employees
across the land are at risk of losing pensions and wages due these
entities declaring bankruptcy. This has the potential to create
enormous unrest.

The
wage slave, which by far is the commonest form of slavery today, does
not have time to call their own. Increasingly, such as in China
within the Walmart enclave, we see laborers working 15 hours a day,
7 days a week with little “non-productive time” for themselves
beyond sleep. Wages are often a pittance,incapable of providing total
support. Wal Mart is not alone in this. There are work shops all
around the world that function this way. The whole thing is part of a
grand deception. By awakening to the truth that time is not owned by
anyone, we set in motion a move toward a radical change in society.
As the worker is worthy of the full value of what they produce, then
they are also worthy of the full time they take in order to
accomplish this. The moment some one appropriates this to themselves
as “owner” even at the force of law, at someone else expense is
the moment we fall into delusion.

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